Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is a piezoelectric ceramic material that is widely used for its high piezoelectric coefficients. PZT has a perovskite structure with a chemical formula as ABX3, where A is lead, B is mixture of zirconium and titanium, and X is oxygen. PZT appears as a solid with phases of lead zirconate oxide (PbZrO3) and lead titanate oxide (PbTiO3).
Formation of PZT films typically requires sintering at a high temperature (e.g., 650° C.), which makes application of PZT difficult on non-planar (e.g., “three dimensional”) substrates because the resulting films are brittle (because they are sintered) and difficult to pattern.
What is desired, therefore, is a relatively low temperature method for forming PZT, such that PZT can be deposited conformally on non-planar substrates.